To Die Would Be An Awfully Big Adventure
by Lady Weasleyy
Summary: Post S2 Finale; Neverland is on the horizon, all kinds of bad things are happening in Storybrooke. The mission to save Henry has begun. (my hopes for what happens in Season 3) Different Character Perspective Every Chapter! (Hook, Belle, Emma, Rumpel, Bae, Henry, Snow, Charming, Regina, Red, Dwarves, etc) R&R - Should be complete the day before S3 first episode (3x01)
1. Chapter 1

Gone.

Storybrooke was gone.

The thought went through her head over and over again. Two weeks ago, she had been Lacey - a girl she thought she knew, but who really wasn't right at all. Since then, everything had gone wrong, and there had been nothing she could do to stop it. As soon as she'd gotten her memories back, Rumpelstilskin had been taken from her, and all she had been left with was a list of things to do while he was away. Though she had followed the instructions he'd set forth to protect the town, either she did something wrong, or it just wasn't strong enough. People had come from seemingly everywhere and poured into Storybrooke, ruining the lives of all of the citizens. Most had holed themselves up in the Library, where Belle - of course - granted them safety. What else was there to do? The person she loved most was gone, but that didn't mean she didn't love the people of this town as well.

They had spent three days hiding, hoping that the strangers wouldn't discover their hiding spot. But they had, eventually. Even while Belle was pouring through book after book, trying to find a way to let everyone return to the Enchanted Forest - there had to be a way, and they would be safer there than here - the door was suddenly attacked. They were ramming into the door repeatedly, and she was out of time. The others who had been reading alongside her dropped their books and went for their weapons. Unarmed, and not really able to fight even if she _were_ armed, Belle began simply skimming pages, flipping them faster than she thought she could read. Now was the last chance.

The door burst open and her head snapped up, staring in the direction of the gaping hole, unsure what to do. Belle was certain the fear was etched on her face, but did her best to continue thinking of a way out. There was a back door. She also knew of a way to get into the vents - much good it would do her if they torched the place like they had the other buildings. Her precious books would be gone as well as Mr. Gold and her neighbors. If she managed to make it out, it wouldn't be worth it. Everything in her world would be demolished.

Sometimes, Belle decided, courage meant not running away, even if you knew you would lose. Standing her ground, she refused to leave the others who were prepped for attack. Shoes echoed in the library, louder than they should have. Out of nowhere, a cloud of smoke formed, and Belle couldn't see anything, let alone her intruders. The citizens of Storybrooke began to panic - she could hear them breathing more shallowly and coughing, yet at the same time could hear the voices of the enemies. That's what they had become, after all, when they had barged in and wrecked the place.

The smoke made her eyes water - so much so that she nearly missed the glowing light that skidded across the floor towards her. What in the world..? She backed up quickly, but ran into the table she had been reading at before the conflict began. There was really no where to escape now. The light expanded into a ray of blueish-purple light that shone up into the ceiling of the library. It widened into a large strip of light, and came at her, lighting up the ceiling and walls as it spread around the library. It passed over the tops of the bookshelves, heading for the ground, the bean continually getting wider. She looked to her left to see the dwarves and Red not too far away. Red looked up and they made eye contact, reaching their hands towards each other. They wouldn't be alone in this, whatever it was. Their hands linked and Belle felt a bit better, even though she couldn't save them.

The instant the light hit her, everything around her disappeared. The smoke scent was gone, as well as the table she had been standing against. Blinking, she realized, was partly her downfall. She blinked, and when her eyes opened she was in a place she didn't recognize. She was lying on something soft but slightly damp, and when she opened her eyes she saw blue. _What?_ That wasn't at all right. How was she outside? Where were Red and the dwarves?

A grunt to her left surprised her, and her eyes flew towards the sound. Grumpy was pushing himself off the ground, looking extremely put out. "What the hell?" He growled, looking around with his hands on his hips. "What is this place?"

"And what was was that blue light?" Red's voice came from Belle's other side.

Belle sat up slowly, looking around. The landscape was beautiful, but nothing like Storybrooke. She wasn't even sure they were in Maine at all. There were different trees here. Belle was certain she heard water nearby, but couldn't see it anywhere. "Was that a portal?" She asked slowly, turning to look at Red and the dwarves. They had all made it. A portal would explain why all of them had gone through together, after holding onto each others' hands.

"It must have been." Doc replied. "How else would we have gotten here?"

Belle groaned, feeling frustrated and confused. There were no books here, no maps. While she was fine without them, they certainly would help in a time like this, she mused.

"Let's just go somewhere." Red suggested. "Investigate. Maybe we'll run into someone."

"Or something." Grumpy replied darkly. Belle frowned at him but said nothing as she followed Red, the dwarves lining up behind her.

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**A/N: If you like the story, subscribe to it, or leave a review! This will send me an email :) Once school starts things will get crazy, and I really really want to remember to post the chapters. I have them written except for the last few and I hope to update every couple days. It should be done the day before the first episode of season three! **

**NEXT CHAPTER: Hook lets us know just how he's feeling.**


	2. Chapter 2

Hook was... let's call it frustrated. Here he was, unable to steer his own ship - instead sent to starboard to help David (Charming? Whatever his bloody name was). Emma paced relentlessly with her eyes wide like they always were when she was worried, and it was starting to drive him mad. He knew that Rumpelstiltskin was likely the only person on board Hook's vessel to have a clue where they were heading, but he still despised the idea of someone commanding him or his ship.

To say he noted the change in his passengers was to state the obvious. Hook had been in Neverland for as long as he could remember. Well, up until the whole mess with Regina's evil mother. But that was another story. Point was, he knew Neverland could change people. He just wondered how long it would be before they decided that their endeavor wasn't worth leaving this place that filled them with such happy memories. Or would those memories drive them back to Earth, where they could attempt to create more of them? He couldn't say.

Essentially, Hook was bored. He had been granted little to no power over the past few days, and it wasn't sitting well with him. Not in the slightest. He was the Captain, thank you very much, and was starting to wonder what would happen if he told Gold to shove off and just order him to give Hook directions or something. Just so he could feel the helm under his hands again.

Stepping up to the mast, he rested his foot on the base of it, and held the rope tightly with the hand on the side closest to the wood. Leaning to the side, the rope held him practically suspended against the mast, and as the ship moved it felt.. right. He felt rather oddly at peace in that moment.

As the laws of the world worked, as soon as he felt properly settled in, shouts went up around the deck. David was climbing, Emma was at the bow pointing at something. Land was getting close now. Regina must have heard the noise - the woman didn't get any rest anyways - for she came back up the stairs to observe the mayhem.

Hook hadn't moved from his spot, but felt all the more frustrated for having the moment and the place ruined for him. Hearing a shout from Emma, he glanced back at her. She had a telescope in one hand, and was gesturing to the island. Had they never seen a beach before or something? Hook was exceedingly unimpressed.

Grumbling to himself, Hook pushed off the mast and landed on the deck, walking up to stand beside Emma. It had only been a week that he was trapped aboard his ship, but in that time Emma had somehow forgiven him. Perhaps it was his reaction to learning of Baelfire. Though Hook had expected some confrontation about his expression and his helping them in the end because of it, Emma had made no move to talk to him about it. It was probably because everyone was around - especially Rumpelstiltskin. That likely wouldn't go over well.

"I understand you lot are excited to finally see land, but is the climbing really necessary?" Hook asked Emma under his breath, gesturing to David who was up in the ropes with a telescope of his own.

Emma followed his gaze and gave a slight chuckle. No one had been able to muster much more than a quiet laugh in the past week. Especially Emma. Not only had she lost her son, but also someone else she loved. Someone Hook had once wanted to love as well. The main problem with that was that Hook was finding that he wanted to see if he could care for Emma.

After first meeting her, Hook had decided that she was, at the very least, a lot of fun to mess with. But when every single one of his plans had backfired, he'd started to understand what Emma meant when she called him desperate. Hook hadn't thought a single one of those so called plots through, and when the'd failed he couldn't say he was all that surprised. It had taken more thought to help Emma than it had to team up with Cora or Tamara and Greg - Owen? Whatever. Hook despised this name changing business. It was just mental.

Regina was walking around on the deck behind them, still looking put out about being on a ship. She clearly had never experienced that before. While the others hadn't either, he'd guess, she was taking it the worst. Seas certainly weren't her thing.

Mary Margaret moved to take Emma's hand, and Hook turned away, feeling like he was invading something by standing there. He wouldn't usually care, but this was also a mission for him. He had something to get out of this if they found Henry. He could also go on to finding Bae, as much as that would mess up his attempts at understanding Emma.

"It's time to drop anchor!" Gold called from the helm, making Hook frown once more. If this bloody imp injured his ship, they would have words.

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**A/N: Decided to go ahead and post this while I was thinking about it! NEXT CHAPTER: Red Panics.**


	3. Chapter 3

Red couldn't be sure, but she thought she could smell salt water. Like the dock back home. Without looking to see if the others actually followed her, she followed the smell until they broke through the trees.

Gasps went up behind her, and she couldn't help but let hers join in. This was no dock. This definitely wasn't Maine. From what she knew of the place, there weren't exactly white sandy beaches with plants, rocks, and rolling waves. Here, however, there were, apparently.

"A beach..?" Belle asked slowly. Red looked at her with a raised eyebrow. The girl had seen one before? From what Red knew of the Enchanted Forest, there weren't many, so she was surprised. Then she remembered that it was probably from one of Belle's books.

"Apparently, sister." Grumpy replied, crossing his arms in front of him. Following Grumpy's gaze, Red watched Dopey walk up to the water and attempt to drink it. Instead, he ended up spitting it everywhere. "It's salt water, Dopey." Grumpy called out. Red didn't miss the fact that his attitude dissipated a bit when talking to his brothers or people like Snow. People he trusted and cared about. It was rather sweet, she decided silently.

"Let's just start a fire." Belle suggested, confusing everyone.

"It's the middle of the afternoon. It's already plenty hot." Red replied, shaking her head and resting a hand on her hip. Trying to get Ruby out of her felt wrong, and little things like her alter ego's posture stuck in Red's mind without her meaning to keep it.

"We can boil the water to get rid of most of the salt." Belle replied lightly, not one for sarcasm or negativity, even in the face of danger. Red thought that was probably what had saved them back in Storybrooke.

The dwarves set to work finding things to both make a fire with and to contain water in. Red assured everyone that she could hunt if she had to - not that she particularly wanted to - and helped Belle find a spot where the water wouldn't wash up and douse the fire. "I wonder what happened to Storybrooke," Red pondered aloud.

"I don't suspect we'll find out.." Belle replied quietly.

"You never know." Red shrugged, attempting to keep the spirits up. While she herself was often dramatic, Belle had kept everyone going for the past few days and no one deserved support more than she did in that moment.

An hour later, the fire was going, they had managed to make a container out of some plants the dwarves had somehow tied together - don't ask how, because Red definitely couldn't tell you - and they were trying out Belle's water boiling plan. Smoke was rising into the sky, making Red cough and pull her cloak in front of her face. She never liked fire smoke, even after growing up in the cabin with Granny.

_Granny_! Red's eyes grew wide and she backed up a few steps in surprise. How had she forgotten. Where was Granny? Belle turned to her with a confused and concerned look on her face, the girl's eyes asking what was wrong. "I don't know what happened to Granny. Or any of the others."

"I was thinking about that," Belle admitted slowly. "I don't think there's any way to know right now. We just have to figure out where we are and find a way out. There's nothing we can do at this point."

Red nodded, keeping quiet. Belle was right. At least they were together for now, with the dwarves. It was far better than panicking like this alone. Better than not knowing what had happened to _anyone_ from Storybrooke. Looking up at Belle again, Red wondered if she was thinking about Mr. Gold. She was probably worried that he would return to Storybrooke and see everyone gone and start attacking people or something. Red sort of was worried, herself. Who knew where the Jolly Roger was right now?

"Okay, I know I said this earlier," Grumpy began, drawing everyone's attention from whatever they were thinking about or doing, "but _what the hell?_" He continued loudly, gesturing to something in the water.

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**A/N: Short chapter, I know. But the next one is longer! NEXT CHAPTER: Emma and Gold in one chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

Emma hadn't really been listening to Hook or Mary Margaret. She'd laughed at Hook's comment, somehow grateful for his taking her mind off of the job at hand. But the entire time they'd been on this ship - over a week now - she had been thinking about Henry, as well as the other passengers on the ship.

Everyone was acting strangely, and she couldn't figure out why. Now and then, Regina would be _nice_, and not just when they were referring to Henry. Gold would revert back to his sarcastic comments and dark nature. And Hook was being downright friendly. She didn't understand it at all. It was just… _wrong_.

Gold's announcement that he would be dropping the anchor soon woke her from her thoughts, however, and she turned to face the helm and watch Gold steer the ship. David, still up in the rigging, had his telescope to his hand. Until he dropped it, that is.

"GOLD." David shouted from above, making everyone jump. Mary Margaret raised an eyebrow before following David's gaze off the front of the ship. Snow's hand taking hold of her wrist made Emma rather interested. Emma gave David a frustrated look as she, too, turned, lifting her telescope to look through it. Regina had picked up David's and was observing from the upper deck, according to David's complaints that she wouldn't return it to him.

"What?" Mr. Gold snapped in return, sounding annoyed at his actions being interrupted.

"Belle." Emma whispered, catching sight of a figure on the beach, standing in the water and watching the ship in return. She felt Hook's eyes swing over to her, and Mary Margaret stiffen beside her. "_Belle!"_ Emma shouted, turning to stare at Rumpelstiltskin in awe.

—

That was all it took. Her name. Rumpelstiltskin snagged David by the arm, pulling him to the helm and forcing the prince to take over the steering of the ship. Making his way down the steps carefully, he made it to the railing, where Emma handed him the telescope with a meaningful glance he supposed was meant to tell him something. He didn't catch the meaning.

Lifting the glass to his eye, he scanned the shore of the island before catching sight of her. Her hair was blowing in the wind and she looked a right mess. She must have been in the woods or something. Rumple thought she looked perfect. Lowering the looking glass, he felt renewed energy fill him.

He hurried as much as he could to get to the anchor, surprised when Hook followed him and threw the monstrosity over for him. Gold said nothing, instead giving him an appraising look and walking back over to the front of the ship. As it pulled to a stop, they boarded the paddle boats - Hook, Rumple, and Regina somehow managing to climb into the same one while Emma, Snow and Charming ended up in the other.

The time between the ship and the shore was painful as she grew closer to him with each push of the oars. He hardly dared to look away, but he did notice that she wasn't the only one there from Storybrooke. What had happened? How had they gotten to Neverland without help or magic? Unless the Blue Fairy had done this, he had no idea how they had arrived there. He didn't exactly see her walking around the beach, after all. A sudden protectiveness flew through him, as well as a bit of annoyance. He had told her to protect the town, told her exactly how, and yet here she was.

They pushed the boats until they were on the sand, and Belle was coming over to meet them. The dwarves and Red had gone to help Snow and Emma out of their boat after Charming, and they were immediately all talking. Hook and Regina looked completely annoyed, but Rumpel didn't really care.

"Rumpel." Belle said as she reached them. Gods, but he'd missed that accent and that face.

"Belle." He replied, making his way out of the boat. The moment he was standing comfortably, he reached out to pull her to him. "I don't understand how you're here." He added as he pulled back to look her over and make sure she wasn't injured in any way.

"It's a long story." Red said, sounding exasperated as she walked over.

Gold let go of Belle, not exactly wanting to seem overly attached. Everyone probably knew, but he had to maintain some level of strength. Rumple was aware of the secrets Neverland held, and knew he had to be careful not to share them with anyone - except perhaps Belle. But that would have to come later.

"We'll have time for a story circle later," Grumpy was saying loudly - he always seemed to speak loudly now that Rumpel thought about it - to Snow and Charming. "Right now we have to figure out what our plan is." The dwarves, of course, would be awaiting instructions from their royals, and though it shouldn't have annoyed Gold, it did. There were only three people on this trip who could perform magic, and neither of the loverbirds were one of them.

"There are provisions on the ship." Hook assured them, gesturing to his vessel where it rocked in the waters. "If you're hungry, come back with me and we'll gather supplies and rejoin everyone here."

Why did he always talk like he was so proper and had been brought up in a well-to-do family? Gold doubted anyone had wondered before. It was rather like David's phrasing and word choice after he had started living at Prince James.

"Mr. Gold. Rumpel." Belle was saying, reaching a hand out to touch his shoulder.

"Yes, dearie?" He replied, turning to face her as he rested his cane in front of him under both of his hands.

"I need to talk to you." She urged quietly, leaning towards him. What was so private that she didn't want to share it with the others? Nodding, though his brow furrowed, he followed her along the short until they reached an outcropping of rocks. Coming around to the other side, they stood so that the rocks blocked them from the view of the others.

"What is it you need to say, Belle?"

She watched him carefully with those large blue eyes of hers before apparently changing her mind entirely. Reaching up to press her palm to his cheek, she leaned in and kissed him. Surprised but pleased, Rumpel smiled into the kiss, and ran his hand over her hair over and over.

"_Belle_." He whispered against her lips before pulling back. "What is it you want to tell me?"

He watched her smile turn into more of a grimace and found that he wished he had never asked.

"I don't know how," Belle began, brow furrowed as she searched his eyes for answers, "but those people Tamara and Greg worked for must have found us. And they had a magic bean - at least one, and-"

"That's how you got here?" He asked sharply, eyes narrowed.

"Yes, I.. I did what you said. But it wasn't a week before they found us. I promise I did what you told me." She said, stepping closer to him and nodding like it would make the phrase mean more.

"I believe you, Belle." Rumpel swore in return. Wanting to run a hand over his face, he clenched his fist. She didn't need to see even more signs of him being frustrated than she had surely caught sight of already. "For now, we need to focus on keeping everyone together. It was already a bit of a fight between us all on that ship."

Belle nodded, standing up straighter. "We have to find Henry."

Rumpel nodded stiffly. Yes. They had to find the boy. What he would do when they found him, Rumpel couldn't say.

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**A/N: Hope you're all enjoying the story so far. Leave me a review so I know whether or not I should continue! NEXT CHAPTER: Rumpel Shares a Secret With Emma.**


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